Sunday, May 25, 2014

Rogues by George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois

I'm a fan of short stories so the thought about an anthology about rogues sounded wonderful.  I personally don't believe in stealing anything from anyone, but I sure enjoy reading about good thieves and swindlers.  I think that's because it's fiction and sometimes their work can be very dangerous.  I couldn't wait to read this book!

Bantam and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published June 17th, so check with your local bookstore then.

There are stories of every type here:  Sci fi, fantasy, medieval, steampunk and more.  There are also several familiar characters.  You'll understand why when you look over this list of contents:


Joe Abercrombie “Tough Times All Over”
Gillian Flynn “What Do You Do?”
Matthew Hughes “The Inn of the Seven Blessings”
Joe R. Lansdale “Bent Twig”
Michael Swanwick “Tawny Petticoats”
David Ball “Provenance”
Carrie Vaughn “The Roaring Twenties”
Scott Lynch “A Year and a Day in Old Theradane”
Bradley Denton “Bad Brass”
Cherie Priest “Heavy Metal”
Daniel Abraham “The Meaning of Love”
Paul Cornell “A Better Way to Die”
Steven Saylor “Ill Seen in Tyre”
Garth Nix “A Cargo of Ivories”
Walter Jon Williams “Diamonds From Tequila”
Phyllis Eisenstein “The Caravan to Nowhere”
Lisa Tuttle “The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives”
Neil Gaiman “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back”
Connie Willis “Now Showing”
Patrick Rothfuss “The Lightning Tree”

It will take you a while to read this book, it's over 800 pages long.  I found it time well spent.  There are no bad stories.  Some made me want to change the endings, and some were a shock, but all were interesting.

My two favorites were:  “The Caravan to Nowhere” and “Now Showing”.  Both are fantasies and caught my fancy because of the story content.  The first uses magic to transport people; the second references old movies including a favorite of mine:  Jumping Jack Flash.  

I'm sure you'll find your own favorites.  After all, there's a Neil Gaiman story in the collection, too.  This would make a nice long weekend read, a beach read, or maybe one story before bed each night.  I just devoured it in my reading chair like always and had a good time doing it.  Get a copy!

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